At&t Seeks Cable Deal With Ranches

August 9, 2002|By Joe Kollin Staff Writer

SOUTHWEST RANCHES — The nation's largest cable company, operating in violation of federal rules in the town for the past two years, has agreed to comply by Sept. 30 or pay Southwest Ranches a $25,000 penalty, town officials say.

In an unusual move, AT&T Broadband promised that if required to pay, it wouldn't recoup the money by raising the cable rates of its Southwest Ranches customers.

AT&T agreed to pay the entire penalty out if its own pocket because that's what town officials want before it will consider giving the company a cable franchise agreement. Without a franchise agreement, the company is operating in violation of federal rules.

"There are unusual circumstances" in the negotiations between the town and AT&T, Allison K. Hift, the town's telecommunications attorney, said on Thursday.

Philip J. Kantor, AT&T's attorney, said he thinks this is the only place in the country where a local government, not the cable behemoth, has the upper hand.

Kantor would not admit that AT&T doesn't have a franchise. However, in an interim agreement announced this week, AT&T admitted that "for the purposes of this agreement" it has "no valid, enforceable" franchise.

AT&T's problem is that the Federal Communication Commission requires that all cable companies have franchise agreements with the local governments where they operate. It hasn't had one in Southwest Ranches since the town was created two years ago.

"They're operating in the town without a franchise agreement and that's a violation of federal law, so it is imperative that they come into compliance as soon as possible," Town Attorney Gary Poliakoff said.

The town, as a result, has been "presented with the golden opportunity" to get what it wants from the company, he said. The town is demanding that AT&T wire the entire town -- only part of the town now has service.

And the town wants "state-of-the-art" technology, including digital and Internet service. It also wants a provision in the agreement requiring that AT&T maintains the cable system, something it isn't obligated to do now.

Kantor said AT&T will have no problem promising better service.

"We want to be able to upgrade the area, we don't make more money if we don't upgrade," he said.

Hift discovered the town's "golden opportunity" after AT&T on March 21 made a routine request. The company asked the town, as it is asking hundreds of local governments across the country, to approve the transfer of its franchise agreement to the new company being formed by its merger with Comcast Communications. The new company will be called AT&T Comcast.

The request is necessary because FCC regulations require that local governments agree to transfer their franchises when cable companies merge or get new owners.

AT&T has been under pressure from local governments across the nation as it seeks their approval to transfer its franchises. In Broward, the company has agreed to improve service in minority areas and provide free connections for school and libraries in those neighborhoods.

Hift searched for the existing franchise agreement so she could ask the Town Council to approve the transfer. Neither she nor AT&T could find it because no agreement existed.

Apparently, everyone was so busy two years ago that they didn't think of it. Southwest Ranches was being incorporated as a town and AT&T was taking over existing cable systems.